RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 183, 99-09-20

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From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 183, 20 September 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT WANTS NEW KARABAKH PEACE PLAN...

[02] ...ORDERS RELEASE OF ARMENIAN POWS

[03] POLICE DISPERSE DEMONSTRATIONS IN AZERBAIJANI CAPITAL

[04] RUSSIA RELAXES, REIMPOSES CONTROLS ON BORDERS WITH GEORGIA...

[05] ...SPARKING PROTESTS IN TBILISI

[06] OSCE CHAIRMAN IN OFFICE DISCUSSES GEORGIAN CONFLICTS

[07] BRZEZINSKI PROPOSES THAT ARMENIA JOIN GUUAM

[08] OSCE CRITICIZES KAZAKHSTAN'S SENATE ELECTIONS

[09] KAZAKHSTAN'S EX-PREMIER LEAVES RUSSIA

[10] SEVEN KILLED IN NEW CLASH IN SOUTHERN KYRGYZSTAN

[11] NEW POLITICAL PARTY FORMED IN KYRGYZSTAN

[12] TAJIK OPPOSITION PARTY HOLDS CONGRESS

[13] TAJIK PRESIDENT TO RUN FOR SECOND TERM

[14] UZBEKISTAN AGAIN IMPLICATES TAJIK OPPOSITION FIGHTING IN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[15] UCK OFFICIALS BALK ON DEMILITARIZATION

[16] THACI CRITICIZES KOUCHNER, CALLS FOR INDEPENDENCE AT UN

[17] UCK HOLDS PARADES THROUGHOUT KOSOVA

[18] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER CALLS FOR UN OFFICIALS TO RESIGN

[19] AVRAMOVIC URGES MILOSEVIC, MILUTINOVIC TO RESIGN...

[20] ...AS DRASKOVIC SWINGS BACK TOWARD OPPOSITION

[21] HIGH COMMISSIONER SACKS BOSNIAN OFFICIALS

[22] SRPSKA'S RULING COALITION WANTS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

[23] POPE VISITS SLOVENIA

[24] ROMANIA'S HUNGARIANS DISAGREE ON PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

[25] ROMANIA'S FORMER MONARCH CLAIMS BACK PROPERTY

[26] ROMANIA SAYS LAND MINES AD WAS 'MISTAKE'

[27] BULGARIA, EU DISCUSS CLOSURE OF KOZLODUY UNITS

[C] END NOTE

[28] GEORGIA'S ARMENIAN-POPULATED REGION IN LIMBO

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT WANTS NEW KARABAKH PEACE PLAN...

in Office Knut Vollebaek, Heidar Aliev argued that the OSCE

Minsk Group is unable to resolve the Karabakh conflict and is

biased toward Armenia in its efforts to do so, Turan

reported. Aliev added that he expects the Minsk Group to

prepare a new draft peace plan before the OSCE summit in

Istanbul in mid-November. Turan quoted Aliev as saying that

his direct talks over the past two months with his Armenian

counterpart, Robert Kocharian, have yielded no results, as

"Armenia is offering very difficult proposals that could not

be accepted by Azerbaijan." Vollebaek expressed the OSCE's

support for a continuation of those direct talks, which he

termed "vital" to resolving the conflict, according to ITAR-

TASS. LF

[02] ...ORDERS RELEASE OF ARMENIAN POWS

during his talks with Vollebaek that he has ordered the

National Security Ministry to release the last four Armenian

prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan. He added that he hopes

Armenia will reciprocate by releasing the 15 remaining

Azerbaijani prisoners before the OSCE Istanbul summit, ITAR-

TASS reported. Armenia released three Azerbaijani POWs on 17

September. Armenia says it still holds six Azerbaijani POWs,

while the leadership of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh

Republic admits holding five Azerbaijani servicemen, RFE/RL's

Yerevan bureau reported on 17 September. LF

[03] POLICE DISPERSE DEMONSTRATIONS IN AZERBAIJANI CAPITAL

police dispersed some 50 people taking part in a picket of

the city mayor's office on 18 September, Caucasus Press

reported. The picket was organized by the chairmen of the

Movement for Electoral Reform and Democratic Elections to

demand permission to convene a rally in Baku on 25 September.

Two days earlier, some 300 police had broken up a rally by

opposition representatives at the Salyany race track on the

outskirts of Baku. Several participants were arrested. The

demonstrators had been protesting alleged violations by local

election officials during the first stage of preparations for

the 12 December municipal elections. LF

[04] RUSSIA RELAXES, REIMPOSES CONTROLS ON BORDERS WITH GEORGIA...

Vlasislav Ardzinba, that a week or so earlier, on 9

September, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a

resolution lifting restrictions imposed in 1994, 1995, and

1997 on crossing Russia's borders with Azerbaijan and

Georgia, Ardzinba termed that step "the lifting of the

economic blockade" against Abkhazia. But within days of the

signing of the Russian government document, State Duma

speaker Gennadii Seleznev called for the closure of those

borders to prevent the transport of arms via Azerbaijani and

Georgian territory to militants fighting in Chechnya and

Daghestan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 September 1999). On 17

September, Russian border guards closed the Psou border

crossing between Russia and Abkhazia in response to last

week's terrorist bombings in Russia, according to Caucasus

Press. LF

[05] ...SPARKING PROTESTS IN TBILISI

Department issued a statement condemning the 9 September

Russian government resolution as an infringement of Georgia's

sovereignty, Caucasus Press reported on 18 September. The

statement added that the Russian move abets Abkhaz separatism

and "does not promote the development and strengthening of

good-neighborly relations" between Moscow and Tbilisi. Also

on 18 September, the Abkhaz parliament in exile, which is

composed of the ethnic Georgian deputies to the Abkhaz

parliament elected in 1991, issued a statement demanding that

the Georgian government completely reassess relations with

Moscow in the light of the Russian government resolution. The

statement called for the closure of Russia's four military

bases in Georgia and for the withdrawal of the Russian

peacekeepers deployed under the CIS aegis along the border

between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. LF

[06] OSCE CHAIRMAN IN OFFICE DISCUSSES GEORGIAN CONFLICTS

talks in Tbilisi on 17 September, Georgian Foreign Minister

Irakli Menagharishvili thanked Knut Vollebaek for the OSCE's

contribution to resolving the conflict in South Ossetia,

Caucasus Press reported. Interfax quoted Vollebaek as telling

a press conference after his talks that the OSCE is prepared

to join the process of trying to resolve the Abkhaz conflict

and will hold talks with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on

doing so. Vollebaek also met with Parliamentary Chairman

Zurab Zhvania and with representatives of several opposition

parties to discussed preparations for the 31 October

parliamentary elections. He was scheduled to meet with

Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze and President Eduard

Shevardnadze. LF

[07] BRZEZINSKI PROPOSES THAT ARMENIA JOIN GUUAM

National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski told

journalists in Tbilisi on 17 September that he considers the

GUUAM alignment comprising Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,

Azerbaijan, and Moldova, "a good initiative" that may at some

point evolve into a security system, Caucasus Press reported.

But Brzezinski added that he thinks Armenia should also

become a member of GUUAM, together with Romania, Poland, and

Turkey. He proposed that Tbilisi offer the maximum

concessions in order the resolve its conflict with Abkhazia.

But he ruled out independence for the breakaway republic,

advocating instead a confederation with Georgia, according to

Caucasus Press. The Georgian leaders insist they would agree

only to Georgia becoming an "asymmetric federation." LF

[08] OSCE CRITICIZES KAZAKHSTAN'S SENATE ELECTIONS

issued in Almaty on 17 September, the OSCE's Office for

Democratic Institutions and Human Rights criticized the

conduct of elections that day to the upper chamber of

Kazakhstan's parliament, Reuters reported. The statement

noted the failure of an unspecified number of local election

commissions in the city and oblast of Almaty to comply with

new regulations allowing local political party

representatives to observe and monitor the vote count. The

previous day, Central Electoral Commission chairwoman Zaghipa

Balieva had pledged that voting would be "absolutely fair,

transparent and democratic" and that "all the election laws

will be followed." Twenty-nine candidates, all of whom were

either government officials or senators whose term is about

to expire, were contesting 16 senate seats. LF

[09] KAZAKHSTAN'S EX-PREMIER LEAVES RUSSIA

who was hospitalized after suffering a suspected heart attack

following his detention by police in Moscow on arriving from

London on 10 September, returned to London on 16 September,

Reuters reported on 17 September, quoting members of

Kazhegeldin's Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan. Those

party members added that Kazhegeldin has no firm plans to

return to Kazakhstan, where he faces charges of tax evasion.

LF

[10] SEVEN KILLED IN NEW CLASH IN SOUTHERN KYRGYZSTAN

Kyrgyz troops were killed and another six injured in a four-

hour exchange of fire with more than 100 guerrillas who

attacked their positions near the village of Syrt in southern

Kyrgyzstan early on 18 September. Kyrgyzstan's Security

Council secretary Bolot Djanuzakov told journalists that the

guerrillas were attempting to gain access to the Uzbek

exclave of Sokh, which is surrounded by Kyrgyz territory, but

were prevented from doing so. He added that the guerrillas

lost 15 men in the fighting, including the field commander

who led an earlier incursion on to Kyrgyz territory. During

the fighting, the guerrillas also seized some 12 local

civilians whom they intend to use as human shields, ITAR-TASS

reported on 19 September. LF

[11] NEW POLITICAL PARTY FORMED IN KYRGYZSTAN

elected Zamira Sydykova, chief editor of the opposition

weekly paper "Res Publika," as chairwoman of the Party of

Republicans at that party's founding congress in Bishkek on

18 September, RFE/RL's bureau in the capital reported.

Parliamentary deputy and Ata-Meken party chairman Omurbek

Tekebaev, who also attended the congress, said his party may

align with the Republicans. LF

[12] TAJIK OPPOSITION PARTY HOLDS CONGRESS

of the Islamic Renaissance Party in Dushanbe on 18 September,

United Tajik Opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri called for

the consolidation of the peace process in Tajikistan and

affirmed that the party's ultimate objective is to come to

power "by political means, strictly within the bounds of the

constitution," ITAR-TASS reported. The 540 delegates to the

congress elected Nuri as the party's new chairman. Former

chairman Mukhammed Sharif Himmatzode and First Deputy Prime

Minister Khodja Akbar Turadjonzoda were elected deputy

chairmen. In August, Tajikistan's Supreme Court lifted the

ban it had imposed on the Islamic Renaissance Party in June

1993. But on 17 September, a leading member of the country's

Central Electoral Commission said the party will not be able

to contend the presidential and parliamentary elections later

this year unless it first re-registers with the Ministry of

Justice, Reuters reported. LF

[13] TAJIK PRESIDENT TO RUN FOR SECOND TERM

who is deputy chairman of the People's Democratic Party, told

Reuters on 17 September that Imomali Rakhmonov will run for a

second term in the 6 November presidential poll "at the

party's request" as there is "simply no alternative." The

party is to convene a congress on 23 September. A former

Tajik Supreme Soviet chairman, Rakhmonov was elected

president in November 1994 with some 60 percent of the vote.

LF

[14] UZBEKISTAN AGAIN IMPLICATES TAJIK OPPOSITION FIGHTING IN

Speaking at a press briefing in Tashkent on 17

September, Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov

claimed that the ethnic Uzbek guerrillas in Kyrgyzstan

receive support and instructions from members of the UTO,

Reuters and Interfax reported. The UTO has denied earlier

Uzbek charges that it supports the guerrillas (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 10 and 13 September 1999). Kamilov said that the

leader of the band now holding hostages in Kyrgyzstan's Osh

Oblast reports by radio to former UTO commander Mirzo Zioev,

Tajikistan's Minister for Emergency Situations and Civil

Defense, and to headquarters in Kabul and Qaraganda in

Kazakhstan. He added that the Tajik government refuses to

acknowledge that it has lost control of the situation in the

eastern part of the country. At the same press conference,

National Security Council Secretary Mirakbar Rakhmonkulov

said Uzbekistan will not send ground troops to Kyrgyzstan to

help fight the militants, according to Interfax. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[15] UCK OFFICIALS BALK ON DEMILITARIZATION

Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) on 20 September failed to agree

with NATO and UN officials on the future of the demilitarized

force and extended the demilitarization deadline by two days,

AFP reported. UCK political leader Hashim Thaci said after

all-night meetings with General Mike Jackson, the commander

of NATO's peacekeeping force, that "the process of

demilitarization is still ongoing." UN Mission chief Bernard

Kouchner joined the talks early on 20 September. Thaci and

UCK military leader Agim Ceku reportedly object to a NATO

plan to transform the UCK into an unarmed 5,000-strong Kosova

Corps to assist in humanitarian and rescue missions, and they

want the new organization to be the basis of a new armed

force for Kosova. AP reported that the two sides also

disagree over the number of weapons to be given to the Kosova

Corps, the right to wear UCK insignias, and control over

positions within the corps. PB

[16] THACI CRITICIZES KOUCHNER, CALLS FOR INDEPENDENCE AT UN

political leader Thaci has accused Kouchner of not consulting

with Kosovar Albanians but says he is not calling for the UN

mission chief to resign, AP reported. Thaci, who was in New

York on 19 September for meetings with UN officials, said

"what we are asking for is cooperation. We are not asking for

a king." He noted that all of Kouchner's "negative positions"

could be improved. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan cited a

busy schedule when explaining why he did not meet with Thaci,

who instead held talks with an assistant to Annan and with

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke. Thaci also

insisted that Kosova must eventually become independent and

should have some representation at the UN. Annan said such a

request ran contrary to UN resolution 1244 and would not be

possible "for the foreseeable future." PB

[17] UCK HOLDS PARADES THROUGHOUT KOSOVA

people turned out for a parade of UCK soldiers on 18

September in anticipation of a farewell ahead of the deadline

for the force to disarm and disband, Reuters reported. UCK

military leader Ceku and commander Sulejman Selimi led the

parade through downtown Prishtina to the sports stadium,

where UCK leaders gave speeches to supporters. Political

leader Thaci said he is sure the international community

"will respect the democratic right for self-declaration and a

referendum [on independence]." Similar events were held in

Peje and in Rznic, where UCK fighters handed over Kalashnikov

rifles to Italian peacekeepers on 20 September to symbolize

the demilitarization. NATO officials said more than 10,000

weapons have been turned in by the UCK. PB

[18] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER CALLS FOR UN OFFICIALS TO RESIGN

opposition movement in Serbia, called on the UN mission chief

Kouchner and Kosova Stabilization Force (KFOR) officials to

resign because of their failure to protect the Serbian

population of Kosova, Beta news agency reported on 19

September. Batic said Kosova used to be "the cradle of the

Serbian people, but today it is their grave." In an open

letter to KFOR, Batic said that instead of protection, Serbs

are being offered reservations as safe havens. He also

criticized UN officials for supporting UCK leaders instead of

"liberal, democratically-oriented [ethnic] Albanian

politicians." PB

[19] AVRAMOVIC URGES MILOSEVIC, MILUTINOVIC TO RESIGN...

National Bank Governor Dragoslav Avramovic said on 18

September that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and

Serbian President Milan Milutinovic must resign since they

are a "major obstacle for the future integration of

Yugoslavia into the world community," AP reported, citing the

Belgrade radio station B2-92. Avramovic said he knows that

Milosevic, being a "smart and responsible person, has enough

strength to step down." Avramovic curbed hyperinflation in

late 1993 as head of the Yugoslav National Bank and was an

ally of Milosevic. He is frequently mentioned as a possible

head of an interim government for Yugoslavia. Zoran Djindic,

a leader of the Alliance for Change opposition movement, said

on the same day that daily protests in 16 Serbian cities

against Milosevic will begin on 21 September and should begin

having an impact by November. PB

[20] ...AS DRASKOVIC SWINGS BACK TOWARD OPPOSITION

the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, said on 19

September that his party will take part in protests against

the government only if Milosevic refuses to agree on early

elections, AP reported. Draskovic said the opposition, led by

the Alliance for Change, would have to draw up a document

calling for early elections and present an ultimatum to

Milosevic. Draskovic, who served earlier this year in

Milosevic's government, opposes installing an interim

government before early elections. PB

[21] HIGH COMMISSIONER SACKS BOSNIAN OFFICIALS

Petritsch, the international community's newly installed top

official in Bosnia-Herzegovina, dismissed two top Bosnian

Croat officials for obstructing the peace process, Reuters

reported on 17 September. Bosnian Croat Stipo Babic was

sacked as justice minister of the Herceg-Bosna canton, and

Borivoje Malbasic was fired from his position as the head of

the town of Drvar's municipal council. Petritsch said

implementation of the Dayton accords is "especially poor" in

Herceg-Bosna and "certain offenders and notorious suspects

appear to be immune from prosecution, while minorities are

extensively discriminated against." Malbasic was removed for

failing to convene regular sessions of the council. Drvar was

Serb-dominated before it was captured by Croatian forces in

1995 and has been the scene of violence between Croats and

Serbian returnees. PB

[22] SRPSKA'S RULING COALITION WANTS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Western-leaning Bosnian Serb Sloga (Unity) coalition will ask

the OSCE to hold a presidential election if Republika Srpska

Vice President Mirko Sarovic refuses to accept the

presidency, Reuters reported on 19 September, citing

"Oslobodjenje." Srpska President Nikola Poplasen was sacked

by former High Commissioner for Bosnia Carlos Westendorp in

March for obstructing implementation of the Dayton peace

agreement. He has refused to recognize the dismissal. In

other news, Russia's upper house of parliament, the

Federation Council, has approved extending the mandate of the

1,400 Russian troops serving in Bosnia. They will remain

there until 31 July. PB

[23] POPE VISITS SLOVENIA

Slovenia on 19 September, denounced rampant nationalism in

the Balkans and urged Slovenians to build peace in Europe, AP

reported. At a mass for some 100,000 people in Maribor, the

pontiff decried the nationalism evident during World War II

as well as during the wars of Yugoslav succession. He also

beatified 19th century bishop Anton Martin Slomsek, the first

Slovene to be honored in this way. The pope met with

President Milan Kucan and representatives of the Serbian

minority in Slovenia. The Catholic Church and the Slovenian

government have recently been at odds over property

restitution and religious education in schools. PB

[24] ROMANIA'S HUNGARIANS DISAGREE ON PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania's Consultative

Council on 17 September announced that the private Hungarian

university about to be set up with Budapest's assistance will

be based in Cluj and have branches in Oradea, Targu Mures,

Brasov, Sfantu Gheorghe, Timisoara, and other Transylvanian

towns. The council thereby overruled the party's honorary

chairman, Bishop Laszlo Tokes, who had said that the

university will be a religious one based in Oradea. The

council also said that the setting up of the private

university does not mean that the demand for a state

university offering instruction in Hungarian will be

renounced. MS

[25] ROMANIA'S FORMER MONARCH CLAIMS BACK PROPERTY

Michael, whose Romanian citizenship was restored in 1997, has

started legal proceedings to reclaim properties confiscated

by the communist regime, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported

on 17 September. AP quoted Simona Mezincescu, a close friend

of the royal household, as saying that the former monarch

wants the properties back in order to stay in them when he

visits Romania because "hotels are too expensive." MS

[26] ROMANIA SAYS LAND MINES AD WAS 'MISTAKE'

Defense Ministry on 18 September said that an advertisement

showing outlawed anti-personnel land mines was a "mistake."

The advertisement was run by the Romtehnica state-owned arms

manufacturer at an international arms fair in the U.K. The

ministry said that those responsible for including the

advertisement in the catalogue distributed at the fair have

been punished, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The

British Ministry of Defense has called for an investigation

into the incident. MS

[27] BULGARIA, EU DISCUSS CLOSURE OF KOZLODUY UNITS

an EU delegation on 17 September, Bulgarian officials offered

three options for the early closure of four controversial

nuclear reactors at the Kozloduy plant, Reuters reported,

quoting Ivan Shilyashki, chief of Bulgaria's energy agency.

This is the first time that Bulgaria has shown readiness to

close the reactors earlier than planned. The EU has long been

demanding early closure and, in return, might allocate

funding for alternative energy projects. Reuters also quoted

Metodi Konstantinov, a member of the Bulgarian negotiating

team, as telling journalists that the three options envisaged

the closure of the four reactors one, two, or three years

earlier than the time frame set by the government. According

to the parliament's energy strategy, reactors one and two are

to be shut down in 2004-2005 and reactors three and four in

2008 and 2010. MS

[C] END NOTE

[28] GEORGIA'S ARMENIAN-POPULATED REGION IN LIMBO

Georgian and Armenian words mingle at the noisy bazaar

and in the busy shops and cafes of Akhaltsikhe, a town in the

west of Javakhetia. But the situation is quite different in

the smaller town of Akhalkalaki, 70 kilometers to the east,

at the heart of the southern region of Georgia, where ethnic

Armenians constitute an overall majority. Akhalkalaki's

population is overwhelmingly Armenian. Georgian is rarely

spoken, and there are few other signs that this is Georgian

territory. The place looks depressing and is deceptively

calm.

Javakhetia's location on Georgia's border with Turkey

and Armenia gives the region strategic importance as Russia

and the West compete for influence in the post-Soviet South

Caucasus. The continuing presence in Javakhetia of Russian

troops and the region's ethnic composition are the main

causes of tension. Added to those factors are the

longstanding grievances of the local population largely

stemming from severe living conditions.

Achieving a modus vivendi with its sometimes

obstreperous national minorities has been a huge challenge

for independent Georgia. Attempts to rein in Abkhazia and

South Ossetia by force have resulted in Tbilisi's loss of

control over those two breakaway regions. And although

relations with local Armenians have been mainly peaceful,

finding a long-term arrangement with Javakhetia has proved

problematic.

The area known as Javakhetia (Javakhk in Armenian) is

composed of four raions. Ethnic Armenians are concentrated in

two of those raions, Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda, accounting

for more than 95 percent of the population. The Tbilisi

government's influence there is fairly limited. Akhalkalaki

still hosts a Russian military base, one of the four

remaining in Georgia. In a town with a virtually non-existent

economy, the base is the main employer. The locals are

strongly opposed to the withdrawal of the Russian troops,

which Tbilisi is seeking as part of its bid to establish

close ties with NATO and the West.

Some Russians did pull out last year, however, raising

the question of who would occupy their empty barracks. Under

pressure from local Armenians unwilling to see Georgian army

units stationed in Akhalkalaki, the Georgian government

agreed to turn the barracks into a hospital. Local government

officials now say that Tbilisi has assured them it will not

deploy Georgian troops in the area in the foreseeable future.

A recent meeting in Akhaktsikhe between the Armenian and

Georgian defense ministers was also intended to reassure the

local Armenia population.

In terms of culture and education, the region's ethnic

Armenian population is oriented toward Armenia. Only a

handful of the inhabitants of Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda

Raions speak Georgian. Schooling is in Armenian, and

textbooks are those used in Armenia. High-school graduates

generally choose to continue their education in Yerevan,

rather than Tbilisi. Many Armenians in Javakheti have

subsequently made careers in the Armenian military, where

they are well represented in the officer corps. Armenia's

present defense minister was born in Javakheti.

Employment opportunities in Javakheti are limited. Apart

from the Russian base and trade, the locals live off farming

or money received from relatives working in Russia. Three

hours of electricity a day is no incentive to launch a

business. Moreover, meager pensions and public-sector wages

have not been paid for more than six months.

As a result of the crumbling infrastructure and the lack

of prospects, many people feel forsaken by the central

government. Akhalkalaki district council chairman Levon

Gabrielian, who is a member of Georgia's ruling Union of

Citizens of Georgia, says Tbilisi's attitude toward the

region is "not objective," while more radical local leaders

speak about covert discrimination.

Anti-Turkish and pro-Russian nationalists, who until

recently operated under the umbrella group Javakhk, have

formed a party called Virk (the medieval Armenian name for

Georgia.) The Georgian Justice Ministry refuses to register

the party, citing its "regional" character. But one of Virk's

leaders, David Restakian, says Tbilisi wants to bar the party

from participating in parliamentary elections next month. "We

are more dangerous for them than Javakhk because we want to

obey their rules of the game," he says. "One in 10 Georgian

citizens is an [ethnic] Armenian, and yet we have no senior

officials in Tbilisi."

Virk's stated aim is a "federal" Georgia in which

Javakhetia would be a separate entity. Its members are

against the possible construction through the region of a

pipeline carrying Azerbaijani oil to the Turkish

Mediterranean coast. They are clearly a force on which Russia

can depend to keep its presence in the region.

As the polls near, Georgian parties are competing to win

the sympathy of Javakhetian Armenians, who in the 1995

elections voted for President Eduard Shevardnadze's Union of

Citizens of Georgia (not least because the Armenian

leadership urged them to do so). Posters of Aslan Abashidze,

the autocratic ruler of the Adjar Autonomous Republic, can

already be seen in Akhalkalaki, while those of his newly

formed electoral bloc urge the ouster of the Shevardnadze

administration, which, it contends, "has no future."

Abashidze rules virtually independently of Tbilisi,

relying on Russian troops to preserve Adjaria's quasi-

independence. He recently proposed incorporating Javakhetia

into his Black Sea republic, which reportedly enjoys the

highest living standards in the country. However, both the

Armenian moderates and nationalists are highly mistrustful of

Abashidze, pointing to his suspected Turkish connections. The

October parliamentary elections will show whether their

warnings carry more weight than his economic track record

among Javakhetia's impoverished population.

20-09-99

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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